Visions are funny things:

The older I get the more reluctant I am to claim a vision from God.  Sadly, I have seen God blamed for lots of stupid things.  Nowadays, I would rather root something into a clear command of scripture and claim Biblical authority for my crazy idea.

So it is with great reluctance I put into writing what God is stirring in my heart.  When you put things in writing they have a way of becoming more tangible than things simply rolling around in your head.  So here it goes. 

One of my main 2017 goal needs to be getting JumpStart into eight primary languages.  Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swahili.  These languages cover a great deal of the planet.  There are certainly other areas of the world with unique languages, but these eight cover a lot of ground.  I have this picture in my mind of 24 books in a row on Amazon.  Allowing JumpStart to wander around the world.

Jesus said, "Go into all the world and make disciples."  That is all the Biblical justification I need for the vision I am sensing.  Then there is something a trusted friend said to me recently.  "JumpStart may not be for America."  That is a crazy thought.  But he might be right.

Americans tend to like big, fast, flashy, and cutting edge.  They want the best and the brightest.  JumpStart is slow and requires diligence and persistence.  It requires 1-2 hours a week of homework and 1-2 hours of mentoring.  It requires Bible study and application based introspection about your walk with Christ and service for His Kingdom.  Some of it is warm and encouraging, other parts are a kick in the butt.  It has the power to double the number of disciples twice a year.  In two or three years it can transform a church.  But it doesn't work like microwave popcorn.

So while I pray JumpStart takes root in America, it may not.  It may find it's home in cultures where 3-4 hours a week with God and someone else is acceptable.  With that in mind I accept the challenge of getting eight sets of JumpStart up on Amazon by years end.

To that end I ask for your prayers, networking partnership, and financial support.  If you know of a church that needs a discipleship track, tell them about JumpStart.  If you know somebody theologically sound and linguistically competent in Arabic, Russian, French, or Chinese please let me know.  If you would like to help me go to conferences, churches, and denominational meetings to share the power of JumpStart Mentor Training I welcome your financial support.

It actually scares me to say I want to light a fire and see a global movement for training disciple making mentors.  But that is what I want to do when I grow up.  I have looked in my imaginary mirror countless times and asked, "Who am I to think God could use JumpStart like this?"  But then I read 1 Corinthians 1:26-29.

Remember, dear brothers and sisters,

that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful

or wealthy when God called you.

Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish

in order to shame those who think they are wise.

 And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.^.

 God chose things despised by the world,

things counted as nothing at all,

and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.
As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.

I am content to be a foolish pastor from San Bernardino who offers God a mustard seed in eight languages.  It will be a great deal of fun to see what He does with it.  Thank you all for your support, connections, prayers, and partnership.  Thanks for joining the JumpStart journey.

I love you all,

Paul